What happens when personal relationships become proxies for larger ideological battles? In Skating in the Clouds, Clare Mendes probes this question with a mix of wistfulness and intimacy. 

Directed by Emily Farrell, the play centres on Summer (Katrina Mathers), a starry-eyed dreamer in flowing pink, and Autumn (Rebecca Morton), a scientist armed with a comically large spanner. Their shared life in St Kilda becomes a microcosm of deeper tensions – pragmatism versus fantasy, action versus avoidance, and the broader climate debate that divides generations.

Rebecca Morton and Katrina Mathers in Skating in the Clouds. Photo supplied

Summer dreams of hosting an extravagant ice-skating party for her and Autumn’s 70th birthdays (despite being only in their 50s), with a guest list that includes Jacinda Ardern, J-Lo, and Julia Gillard. However, there’s one glaring logistical conundrum: how to fill their living room with ice and keep it from melting. The absurdity is deliberate—a metaphor for the futility of nostalgia and the fragility of human dreams in the face of a warming world. Autumn, meanwhile, is plagued by ecological collapse and the steady drip of melting icebergs in their imagination. 

Their clashing perspectives...